From Iron and Ruin

Unsaid.

Chapter Three -  Unsaid. 

Four thrones sat before me. Four thrones cut from smooth, white marble with veins of black. One throne was broken down the middle and from it, malevolence wept. 

I knew it was a dream. The air was still and my movements were sluggish. I turned as if I was caught in mud, my hair loose and unbound. It tumbled over my shoulders and I wore simple white cloth on my body.

It looked like a throne-room. No fire-places lined the walls, no ornate statues lined the path to the four thrones sitting empty at the top of the cavernous room. A wall of shimmering, discoloured glass sat behind on the thrones and on the other walls, a balcony hugged them tight. Under that long, curving balcony, darkness clung behind thick pillars and I felt eyes watching me.

"Asha'da."

Silver burned along my veins and I cried out as is crept towards my heart. It thundered in my ears, desperate and afraid as the fire in my veins snapped at it.

"Poor little mortal." A voice crooned. "You have gotten yourself into something that you have no hope of fighting through."

A figure, doused in silver light appeared like the sudden burst of fire-light. Their features were hidden and they burned a pure silver. Behind them, wings unfurled with feathers made of white-fire.

"Who are you?"

The figure sat down on the throne beside the broken one. I felt their eyes on me, even though I couldn't see a single feature. "My brother seeks to destroy your world like he has destroyed ours."

"Your world?" I tried to take a step forward, but my limbs were heavy. The air caught in my throat, acidic and burning.

The figure raised a hand and slashed it downwards. My legs were knocked out from under me and I slapped down onto ashen dirt. Not the stone of the throne-room. My fingers curled in that decay and the smell of rot clung to my nose.

"You know where I am."

I looked up.

Miles and miles of dead earth rolled out in front of me. Trees were rotted at the stump and the sky was a sick, dark purple. The voice was right. I knew where this was. It smelled of decay and my Elvish blood, which listened to the whispers of nature, recoiled at the death soaking into everything around me.

"The Abyss."

The world around me shuddered, as if the earth and the air knew that name. Hands crept from the dead soil. Long, bony fingers began to search for and the skin was cracked and ashen. I couldn't move, I couldn't do nothing but scream as hands seized my ankles and they began to drag me down into the diseased earth and I felt their teeth on my skin, tearing into my flesh.

Kendon was screaming for me. Little Heslan was pulling at my shoulders but I could only scream and scream even as blood trickled down my throat and the Nirani dug into my belly, stripping away flesh and reams of guts to raise them to too large mouths that...

I woke.

My chest was heaving and I curled inwards, feeling the wetness of tears on my cheeks. My skin was cold and I felt the ghost touch of talons curling in my stomach. Arno roused sleepily, watching with heavy lidded eyes as I slipped from the bed.

My night-down hung down to my ankles, a pitifully thin thing. Still I did not bother reaching for my coat as I slipped from the room, eager to escape the dregs of that dream.